\l 5  3  R  St 

THE  STATE  LIBRARY 


FROM  THE  EIGHTH  ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE 
EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 


ALBANY 

1912 


[From  the  Eighth  Report  of  the  New  York  State  Education  Department,  1912.] 


IV 

THE  STATE  LIBRARY 

PREPARED  BY 
JAMES  I.  WYER,  Jr 
Director  of  State  Library 

This  chapter  nominally  reports  on  the  State  Library  for  the  year 
ending  September  30,  1911.  Actually  it  deals  with  but  the  latter 
half  of  this  year,  for  on  March  29th  the  library  was  almost  totally 
destroyed  by  fire.  All  records,  statistics,  correspondence  and  data 
from  which  might  have  been  prepared  a  futile  report  for  the  first 
six  months,  perished  with  the  books  and  manuscripts  they  would 
have  recorded  and  described. 

£  The  catastrophe  is  probably  the  greatest  in  modern  library  an- 
na^s-  ^he  burning  of  the  Kaiserliche  Universitats  und  Landes 
%  Bibliothek  in  Strassburg  during  the  Franco-Prussian  war  did  not  de- 
p  stroy  so  many  books.  The  fire  at  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale  in  Turin 
^  (1904)  was  notable  for  the  large  number  of  rarities  and  manuscript 
^  treasures  lost,  though  no  more,  numerically,  than  25,000  books  and 
2000  manuscripts  were  destroyed.  The  combined  library  losses  at 
San  Francisco  in  1906,  while  perhaps  aggregating  nearly  half  a 
million  volumes,  were  not  comparable  in  the  character  of  the  books 
and  manuscripts  burned,  for  the  entire  Bancroft  Library  and  a 
great  part  of  the  Sutro  collection  escaped.  At  Albany  a  round  half 
million  of  books,  three  hundred  thousand  manuscripts,  the  costly 
apparatus  of  administration,  the  whole  representing  the  skilled  and 
devoted  labors  of  many  faithful  and  zealous  library  workers  during 
almost  a  century  —  all  these,  forming  a  collection  ranking  with  the 
first  half  dozen  in  the  western  hemisphere  and  among  the  first  twenty 
in  the  world,  were  swept  away  in  a  few  hot  and  disheartening  hours, 
i  he  work  of  a  great  going  concern  —  a  work  reaching  not  alone  into 
every  corner  and  county  of  the  State,  but  through  correspondence, 
publications  and  exchange  into  every  part  of  the  world  — a  work 
of  educational  extension,  of  instruction,  book  acquisition,  and  serv¬ 
ice,  was  cut  off  between  two  days.  The  fact  that  within  a  stone’s 
throw  of  the  fire  stood  a  superb  new  building  almost  ready  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  library  and  to  protect  it  from  just  the  catastrophe  which 
overtook  it  and  which  had  been  dreaded  for  so  many  years,  gives  a 
touch  of  unusual  tragedy  to  the  situation.  The  fire,  resulting  from 

[291] 


292  NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 

an  all-night  legislative  caucus  in  the  Assembly  chamber,  got  a  good 
start  in  a  part  of  the  Capitol  at  that  hour  scantily  furnished  with 
watchmen  and  with  wholly  inadequate  fire  protection.  By  the  time 
it  broke  into  the  neighboring  rooms  of  the  State  Library  it  was  so 
fierce  that  the  library  fire  apparatus  was  powerless.  Once  in  the 
library  quarters  thoroughgoing  disaster  was  inevitable,  for  despite 
repeated  emphatic  and  plain-spoken  warnings  during  the  past 
fifteen  years  from  those  having  charge  of  the  State  Library,  the 
State  had  made  no  suitable  provision  for  the  safety  of  the  collection 
of  books,  and  conditions  had  been  allowed  to  grow  up  which  invited 
the  very  calamity  which  befell. 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  there  could  ever  be  a  more  potent  argument 
for  the  segregation  of  great  libraries  in  buildings  built  to  house 
libraries  and  administered  by  those  having  libraries  actively  in  charge, 
than  is  afforded  by  this  fire  when  all  the  circumstances  which  were 
responsible  for  it  are  taken  into  account.  The  conditions  which 
permitted  it  to  gain  serious  headway  and  which  seemed  powerless 
to  arrest  its  rapid  spread  were  those  arising  directly  from  the  parti¬ 
san  system  of  administering  and  caring  for  public  buildings,  a  sys¬ 
tem  which  keeps  veterans  in  responsible  positions  of  watch  and 
guard  until  they  are  seventy-five  or  eighty  years  old,  which  is  a 
stranger  to  fire  drills  and  sufficient  patrol  and  which  must  always 
fail  of  effective  esprit  de  corps.  .The  plain  lesson  for  libraries  from 
the  New  York  State  Library  fire  is  that  no  valuable  collection  of 
books  should  be  housed  in  a  building  occupied,  administered  and 
cared  for  as  are  undoubtedly  all  of  the  state  capitol  buildings  in  the 
country. 

Any  definite  or  comprehensive  statement  of  losses  would  be  little 
less  than  a  full  catalog  of  the  various  collections.  Such  a  state¬ 
ment  has  been,  and  will  be,  attempted  only  for  the  manuscripts.  It 
is  printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  Board  of  Regents  for  June  22,  1911 
and  will  be  reprinted  with  inevitable  corrections  in  the  detailed 
Report  of  the  State  Library  for  1911.  What  remained  to  the  Library 
after  the  fire  may,  by  now,  be  pretty  accurately  stated  as  follows : 

Books  saved  belonging  to  the  State  Library  proper,  includ¬ 


ing  those  in  hands  of  borrowers .  7  000 

Traveling  library  books  loaned  throughout  the  State  in¬ 
cluding  several  hundred  books  for  the  blind .  45  000 

Manuscripts  saved  .  80  000 


Including  45  manuscripts  of  unusual  rarity  and  renown  which  are  particularly  described 
in  the  Regents  Minutes  for  June  22,  1911 


THE  STATE  LIBRARY 


293 


Duplicates  stored  in  other  buildings .  200  000 

These  are  being  sorted  and  will  yield  many  thousands  of  volumes  for  the  new  library 

Several  hundred  coins  and  a  few  relics,  notably  those  relat¬ 
ing  to  Washington 

Almost  immediately  after  the  fire  the  Library  secured  the  use  of 
temporary  quarters  in  different  parts  of  the  city.  The  Division  of 
Educational  Extension  and  the  Library  School  are  now  located  in 
the  Guild  House  of  the  Cathedral  of  All  Saints.  The  work  of 
caring  for  the  recovered  manuscripts  is  being  done  at  the  Catholic 
Union,  at  which  building  also  the  sorting  of  duplicates  is  carried  on. 
Each  of  these  enterprises  will  be  the  work  of  many  months.  The 
medical  librarian  is  located  in  a  room  on  the  third  floor  of  the 
building  at  240  Washington  avenue,  where  the  current  medical  jour¬ 
nals  are  made  available  to  physicians.  Two  members  of  the  library 
staff  are  at  the  State  Normal  College.  Thousands  of  duplicates  are 
still  stored  in  the  attic  of  the  Senate  chamber.  The  administrative, 
buying  and  cataloging  departments  of  the  Library,  with  the  larger 
part  of  its  staff,  occupy  the  building  at  162  State  street.  These 
scattered  quarters  will  be  occupied  until  the  new  building  is  ready, 
and  its  near  completion  with  such  substantial  promise  of  satisfactory 
accommodations,  does  much  to  reconcile  us  to  the  present  serious 
loss  of  administrative  efficiency. 

These  temporary  quarters  secured,  the  work  of  restoration  was  be¬ 
gun.  The  manuscript  salvage,  rescued  at  no  slight  personal  danger 
while  the  fire  was  yet  burning,  was  given  first  attention.  Those 
saved  had  mostly  been  mounted  on  heavy  sheets  with  wide  margins 
and  bound  into  volumes  of  varying  sizes.  The  covers  and  edges  of 
these  were  without  exception  charred  and  blackened,  and  in  nearly 
every  case  the  volume  was  more  or  less  water-soaked.  The  first 
step  was  to  remove  all  covers.  Each  volume  was  then  taken  apart 
leaf  by  leaf,  and  each  sheet  was  laid  between  print  paper  for  dry¬ 
ing.  After  twenty-four  hours  every  leaf  was  again  handled  and 
placed  between  heavy  blotting  paper;  after  twenty-four  hours  here, 
each  leaf  was  again  removed  to  a  second  blotting  paper.  At  all  of 
these  stages  pressure  was  applied  to  facilitate  the  drying  and  keep 
the  documents  from  wrinkling. 

With  the  first  few  volumes  handled,  each  leaf  was  put  into  a 
bath  of  clear  water  and  a  camehs-hair  brush  applied  to  remove  dirt. 
It  was  soon  found  that  this  took  too  much  time  to  apply  to  all  manu¬ 
scripts  and  that  they  would  mold  and  mildew  if  faster  progress  was 
not  made.  The  bath  was  therefore  omitted  with  the  greater  part  of 


294 


NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 


the  manuscripts  treated,  and  the  camel’s-hair  brush  was  applied 
dry,  and  such  dirt  as  could  be  removed  was  taken  off  in  this  way. 

When  each  leaf  had  thus  passed  through  these  three  drying  pro¬ 
cesses,  those  belonging  to  the  same  volume  were  collected  and  care¬ 
fully  tied  up  in  boxes  or  separate  packages  to  wait  until  all  the  manu¬ 
scripts  were  thus  treated.  The  manuscripts  were  first  saved  from 
fire  and  water.  The  race  through  the  ensuing  two  weeks  to  save 
them  from  mold  and  mildew  was  quite  as  keen  and  hard. 

When  all  are  dried,  the  manuscripts  will  be  sorted  into  volumes, 
a  slow  matter,  as  but  one  or  two  persons  are  enough  acquainted 
with  them  to  be  able  to  tell  just  which  documents  belong  together. 
The  rarest  pieces  will  then  be  mended,  nearly  all  will  be  covered,  with 
crepeline,  all  will  be  mounted  on  fresh  paper  and  carefully  bound 
into  new  volumes.  The  archivist  estimates  that  this  work  will  keep 
a  dozen  or  fifteen  people  busy  for  about  a  year. 

This  work,  as  described  above,  was  initiated  under  the  direction 
of  Mr  William  Berwick,  expert  in  manuscript  restoration,  who 
came  to  us  for  ten  days  from  the  Library  of  Congress.  Mr  Ber¬ 
wick  not  only  personally  organized  our  work,  but  has  given  the 
archivist  and  certain  members  of  our  staff  explicit  directions  as  to 
its  prosecution  to  completion. 

The  drying,  cleaning  and  rebinding  of  the  books  saved  presented 
varied  and  difficult  questions.  Many  rescued  from  the  ruins  proved 
to  be  odd  volumes  of  sets,  or  too  badly  damaged  to  be  worth  keep¬ 
ing;  many  single  volumes,  sometimes  whole  sets,  were  discarded  as 
being  palpably  more  costly  to  rebind  than  to  replace. 

Some  faint  notion  may  be  had  of  the  tangle  into  which  the  busi¬ 
ness  affairs  of  the  Library  were  plunged  when  it  is  recalled  that  as 
all  records  of  outstanding  orders  were  destroyed,  there  was  no  way 
of  knowing  how  many  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  books  the  Lib¬ 
rary  was  obligated  for  or  how  many  and  what  books  had  been  re¬ 
ceived  and  not  paid  for  at  the  time  of  the  fire.  Hundreds  of  un¬ 
known  “continuation  ”  orders  were  cut  off  in  mid-sets,  and  even 
after  agents  had  furnished  lists  of  these  orders  it  was  hard  to 
decide  wisely  which  to  cancel  or  continue.  The  burning  of  all 
numbers  for  the  first  three  months  of  the  year,  of  more  than  3000 
periodicals  currently  received  broke  3000  volumes,  many  of  them 
difficult  to  restore.  All  mailing  and  exchange  lists  showing  what 
State  publications  were  sent  to  and  received  from  hundreds  of  in¬ 
stitutions  in  all  parts  of  the  world  were  likewise  burned  and  re¬ 
stored  only  by  laborious  correspondence.  These  incidents  are  cited 


THE  STATE  LIBRARY 


295 


merely  as  typical  of  hundreds  which  arose  during  the  months  fol¬ 
lowing  the  fire. 

Following  the  hundreds  of  immediate  expressions  of  sympathy 
has  come  a  steady  stream  of  substantial  gifts  to  the  Library  from 
every  part  of  the  world :  from  nations,  states,  cities,  libraries,  pub¬ 
lishers,  institutions,  and  individuals.  Specific  public  acknowledg¬ 
ments  for  these  can  not  now  be  printed  (this  will  be  done  else¬ 
where  hereafter),  but  a  general  acknowledgment  must  be  made 
here  not  only  for  the  thousands  of  books  actually  received  but  for 
the  other  thousands  offered  which,  while  it  has  not  yet  been  pos¬ 
sible  to  receive  them,  will  nevertheless  be  most  welcome  as  soon 
as  additional  facilities  for  storage  enable  the  Library  to  send  for 
them.  The  books  themselves  are  no  more  keenly  prized  and  ap¬ 
preciated  than  are  the  messages  of  sympathy  and  encouragement 
which  invariably  accompany  them. 

One  of  the  largest  problems  to  settle  at  once  involved  the  sys¬ 
tem  of  classification  and  cataloging.  With  the  slate  wiped  clean, 
with  practically  every  book  burned  and  every  catalog  card  destroyed 
or  burned  beyond  further  use,  the  situation  was  that  which  would 
confront  a  new  library  about  to  organize.  The  factors  affecting 
decision  were  varied,  involving  the  purpose  and  scope  of  the  new 
Library,  its  various  lines  of  coordinate  work,  such  as  the  Library 
School  and  the  Division  of  Educational  Extension,  its  relation  to 
all  library  and  educational  endeavor  throughout  the  State,  a  relation 
which  it  is  hoped  to  make  even  closer  than  before.  The  generosity 
of  the  Legislature  has  provided  a  sum  which  makes  it  possible  to 
plan  for  an  organization  and  a  work  greater  in  scope  and  promise 
than  that  which  existed  before  the  fire.  The  new  quarters  will  afford 
opportunities  for  useful  expansion,  and  the  reconstruction  of  records 
and  bibliographic  and  technical  equipment  has  been  planned  with  this 
large  view  in  mind.  Such  a  plan  for  a  library  of  this  size  is  neces¬ 
sarily  complex,  far  more  minute  and  intricate  than  would  suffice 
for  smaller  libraries.  It  will  be  fully  described  in  the  separate  report 
of  the  Library  for  1910-11. 

Naturally,  after  doing  what  was  possible  to  restore  a  semblance  of 
organization  and  carry  on  the  pressing  work  both  usual  and  unusual 
which  followed  the  fire,  the  most  important  consideration  was  a  pro¬ 
gram  for  restoring  the  library.  An  adequate  new  building  was 
already  nearly  complete,  an  expert  staff,  loyal  and  tried,  was  at 
hand.  Public  sentiment  expressed  by  press  and  people  was  quick 
and  unanimous  to  urge  a  new  and  greater  library.  The  one  requi- 


296  NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 

site  was  money.  Representations  to  the  Governor  and  Legislature 
that  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars  should  be  named  by  the  State 
as  the  sum  it  was  willing  to  spend  at  once  to  provide  a  new  State 
Library,  not  only  met  with  no  opposition  but  with  definite  approval 
and  encouragement.  A  bill  was  early  introduced  into  the  Legislature 
naming  this  amount  of  money  and,  after  some  vicissitudes,  which 
never  at  any  time  challenged  the  wisdom  and  propriety  of  the 
measure,  was  finally  passed.  The  provisions  of  this  bill  contemplate 
(chapter  901,  Laws  of  1911)  the  expenditure  of  a  million  and  a 
quarter  dollars  within  four  or  five  years,  certainly  as  fast  as  it  can 
be  spent  wisely.  While  this  sum  will  not  represent  the  money 
value  of  the  books  destroyed,  it  is  certain  that  it  will  found  for  the 
State  a  great  library,  and  that  the  expenditure  of  it  within  a  com¬ 
paratively  brief  term  of  years  will  give  a  unity  and  balance  to  the 
collection  which  is  inevitably  lacking  in  any  library  that  has  grown 
up  through  a  century.  It  will  provide  a  collection  of  books  worthy 
of  the  setting  which  the  State  has  made  for  them  in  the  new  building. 

The  question  of  ways  and  means  being  thus  happily  disposed  of, 
a  well  considered  plan  became  necessary,  and  the  following  state¬ 
ment  of  the  proposed  scope  of  the  new  library  has  been  prepared. 

SCOPE  OF  THE  STATE  LIBRARY 

It  is  not  planned  to  make  the  New  York  State  Library  a  great 
general  library.  It  is,  however,  to  be  a  great  reference  library, 
zealously  specializing  in  certain  subjects.  Though  it  will  have  some 
books  on  most  subjects,  it  can  not  undertake  to  collect  all  the  books 
or  even  all  the  important  books  on  all  subjects. 

The  immediate,  definite  constituency  of  the  Library  is  of  course 
the  Legislature,  the  courts  and  the  departments  of  the  State  govern¬ 
ment  with  their  employees.  In  recent  years  as  the  business  of  the 
State  has  increased  and  the  conception  of  the  functions  of  the  State 
has  enlarged,  the  range  and  volume  of  the  official  demands  made 
upon  the  State  Library  have  steadily  become  broader  and  greater. 
It  is  expected  that  this  will  continue.  It  must  be  abundantly  pro¬ 
vided  for. 

A  remoter  but  possibly  an  even  more  important  constituency  of 
the  Library  is  steadily  developing  in  every  part  of  the  State.  Every 
school,  every  library,  and  all  of  the  culturing,  commercial,  pro¬ 
fessional,  and  industrial  activities  in  the  State  are  depending  upon 
and  becoming,  in  effect,  branches  of  the  State  Library.  Through 
them  any  individual  citizen  may  expect  to  find  the  unusual  book 


THE  STATE  LIBRARY 


297 


not  found  in  local  collections.  It  is  the  business  of  the  State  Library 
to  serve  and  encourage  all  such  agencies  and  activities. 

The  Library  will,  from  the  first,  pay  special  attention  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  subjects,  and  in  these  subjects  will  aim  to  make  its  collections 
preeminent. 

GENERAL  REFERENCE  BOOKS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

All  strictly  “  reference  books  ”  in  all  subjects  in  the  general  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  the  term.  Complete  sets  of  periodicals  and  all  reference 
books  which  are  indexed  in  the  chief  general  indexes  to  English  and 
American  journals.  The  publications  of  learned  societies  with  par¬ 
ticular  attention  to  those  on  the  subjects  in  which  the  Library  is  to 
specialize. 

Bibliography  in  a  very  broad  sense :  books  about  books,  the  his¬ 
tory  of  printing,  examples  of  early  printed  books,  of  notable  bind¬ 
ings,  of  books  from  famous  presses,  of  exceptional  typography. 
Library  history,  administration  and  publications. 

LAW 

All  American,  British  and  colonial  official,  unofficial,  side  and 
local  court  reports.  All  series  of  selected  cases  or  cases  covering 
special  topics.  American,  British  and  colonial  statute  law.  All 
law  periodicals  in  the  English  language,  with  a  selection  from  those 
in  other  languages. 

Digests,  tables  of  cases,  citation  books  and  all  legal  bibliographic 
apparatus  necessary  to  the  convenient  and  exhaustive  study  of  case 
law. 

Legal  encyclopedias  and  dictionaries,  American  textbooks  in  all 
editions,  legal  history  and  biography,  literature  of  the  law,  inter¬ 
national  law,  constitutional  law,  trials. 

Reports  of  American  bar  associations  and  legal  societies. 

Such  of  the  statute  law  and  legal  literature  of  foreign  countries 
as  will  be  useful  to  our  State  courts  and  departments  in  passing 
upon  foreign  questions  coming  before  them,  and  to  the  Legislature 
for  a  comparative  study  of  legislation. 

MEDICINE 

Complete  sets  of  all  important  medical  serials,  transactions  of 
medical  academies  and  societies,  bulletins  from  hospitals,  public 
health  reports,  vital  statistics. 

Important  cyclopedias,  handbooks,  reference  works  and  texts,  and 
of  less  use  but  surely  claiming  a  place,  the  literature  recounting 


298  NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 

the  history  and  development  of  the  medical  sciences  and  the  lives 
of  famous  physicians. 

HISTORY 

The  standard  histories  of  all  countries,  with  special  attention  to 
those  European  nations  which  were  early  or  active  explorers  of 
America,  which  were  colonizers  of  this  country  and  which  have  left 
traces  upon  our  government,  people  and  institutions. 

Americana  will  be  collected  with  zeal  and  in  the  broadest  sense  of 
the  term,  emphasizing  strongly  the  thirteen  original  colonies. 

The  collection  of  books  and  manuscripts  relating  to  New  York 
State  must,  of  course,  be  the  best  in  the  country. 

Local  history,  geography,  travels,  cartography,  American  Indians,. 
American  imprints  before  1800,  New  York  imprints  before  1825, 
American  newspapers  before  1850,  American  biography  and 
genealogy,  with  so  much  of  English  and  foreign  genealogy  as  shall 
be  necessary  to  trace  immigrant  ancestry,  are  some  of  the  collateral 
historical  subjects  which  will  have  attention. 

American  literature  to  be  principally  represented  by  first  and 
notable  editions  of  the  standard  authors. 

education 

The  State  Library  is  a  part  of  the  State  Education  Department, 
the  Regents  of  the  University  are  its  trustees,  and  it  is  thus  directly 
associated  with  the  administrative  educational  offices  of  the  State 
and  all  of  the  State’s  marvelous  educational  activities.  There  are 
more  than  50,000  teachers  in  the  State  and  the  people  expend  more 
than  $80,000,000  each  year  for  schools.  Surely  the  State  Library 
must  make  its  collections  on  educational  theory  and  practice  as  com¬ 
plete  and  as  useful  to  the  thousands  of  educational  officers,  teachers 
and  students  throughout  the  State  as  is  possible.  Schools,  colleges, 
and  universities,  public  and  private,  in  all  parts  of  the  country  are 
urged  to  send  to  the  Library  as  full  sets  as  possible  of  their  reports, 
catalogs  and  publications. 

social  science 

The  Library  must  have  extensive  collections  on  social,  economic 
and  political  science;  industrial  history;  statistics.  In  this  field  lie 
the  political  and  economic  questions  which  are  the  subjects  of  legis¬ 
lation  and  of  State  regulation  or  control.  On  such  topics  for  exam¬ 
ple  as  Elections,  Suffrage,  Labor,  Taxation,  Banking  and  finance, 
Municipal  government,  Conservation,  Public  utilities,  Insurance, 
Charities,  no  pains  will  be  spared  to  build  up  notable  collections. 


THE  STATE  LIBRARY 


299 


TECHNOLOGY  AND  ENGINEERING 

The  Library  will  aim  to  secure  all  useful  and  important  journals 
in  this  field  and  will  more  particularly  notice  topics  which  relate  to 
activities  or  enterprises  in  which  the  State  is  engaged ;  canals,  rail¬ 
roads,  highways,  water  storage,  agriculture,  public  health  and  the 
engineering  phases  of  the  utilities  regulated  by  the  Public  Service 
Commissions. 

SCIENCE 

Beyond  the  fundamental  general  reference  material,  the  State 
Library  will  specialize  in  science  only  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  to 
serve  such  agencies  or  departments  of  the  State  government  as  are 
doing  scientific  work.  Good  working  collections  will  be  made  in 
geology,  zoology,  entomology,  botany,  with  more  particular  attention 
to  the  economic  phases  of  these  subjects,  and  in  chemistry  as  related 
to  agriculture,  the  arts  and  commerce. 

MANUSCRIPTS 

Besides  the  manuscript  archives,  which  in  accordance  with  law 
are  from  time  to  time  transferred  to  the  State  Library  by  other 
State  departments,  the  Library  will  secure  all  important  private 
manuscripts  that  can  be  obtained  relating  to  the  history  of  the  State 
and  to  the  lives  of  its  public  men.  Extensive  collections  of  letters 
are  specially  desirable  and  the  appropriateness  of  depositing  them 
in  the  State  Library  is  suggested  to  families  in  which  such  collec¬ 
tions  exist. 

GOVERNMENT  DOCUMENTS 

As  complete  a  set  as  possible  of  the  printed  documents  of  the 
United  States  Government  both  ja  the  collected  and  departmental 
editions. 

The  same  for  every  state  in  the  Union.  At  this  point  many  other 
state  libraries  have  been  prompt  with  offers  of  substantial  help, 
which  will  be  freely  availed  of  as  occasions  for  it  arise. 

The  collected  edition  when  issued  (otherwise  the  separate  editions) 
of  the  documents  of  every  American  city  with  more  than  25,000 
population,  and  for  all  counties,  cities  and  incorporated  villages  in 
New  York  State. 

THE  FUTURE 

Since  the  fire  it  has,  of  course,  been  impossible  to  attempt  any 
public  service  in  the  State  Library  proper.  The  Division  of  Educa¬ 
tional  Extension,  with  the  45,000  books  saved  from  the  fire,  has 


300 


NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 


continued  its  work  with  surprising  efficiency  when  it  is  considered 
that  its  stock  of  books  was  cut  in  two,  and  every  scrap  of  corre¬ 
spondence  and  records  destroyed.  The  library  for  the  blind  has 
gone  on  in  much  the  same  way.  The  Library  School  has  continued, 
with  somewhat  restricted  book  facilities  now  being  rapidly  repaired, 
but  without  serious  interruption  and  in  much  the  usual  way.  The 
Library  proper,  however,  has  found  it  impossible  to  open  any  read¬ 
ing  rooms,  to  do  any  reference  work  by  mail,  to  make  available  in 
any  degree  either  the  books  that  were  saved  or  those  that  have  come 
in  by  gift  and  purchase  since  the  fire.  It  will  be  impossible  to 
attempt  any  work  of  this  kind  until  the  library  shall  be  opened  in 
the  new  building.  So  far  as  this  can  be  definitely  planned  in  ad¬ 
vance,  it  would  seem  that  October  i,  1912,  should  find  all  parts 
of  the  library  gathered  together  in  the  new  building  and  every  part 
of  its  public  work  resumed.  This  does  not  at  all  mean  that  every¬ 
thing  necessary  to  do  this  in  the  old-time  efficiency  will  have  been 
done.  In  the  face  of  such  large  book  purchases  as  the  Library  will 
make,  there  will  be  large  arrears  of  cataloging  for  several  years, 
and  this  will  inevitably  restrict  the  most  effective  use  of  some  books. 
Certain  important  card  catalogs  and  indexes  which  were  destroyed 
in  the  fire  can  not  be  replaced  at  once;  such,  for  example,  as  the 
index  to  the  collected  documents  of  the  State ;  the  comparative  index 
to  American  statute  law,  covering  the  past  twenty  years;  the  card 
index  of  book  notes  and  reviews,  and  of  course  the  great  card  cat¬ 
alog  of  the  library  itself,  which,  had  it  been  saved  with  all  the  books 
destroyed,  would  still  have  been  a  valuable  piece  of  bibliographic 
apparatus  of  the  highest  usefulness  in  creating  and  administering 
the  new  library. 

It  is  but  six  months  since  the  fire,  yet  not  too  soon  to  see  encourag¬ 
ing  signs  of  a  great  library  rising  from  the  ashes  of  the  old.  The 
Empire  State  has  set  its  approving  seal  upon  an  adequate  initial 
appropriation.  A  splendid  new  home  will  be  ready  for  its  books 
and  tenants  in  a  few  months.  A  staff  of  nearly  one  hundred  people, 
recently  tested  in  a  most  trying  and  unusual  way,  stands  ready  to 
repeat  the  remarkably  rapid  and  substantial  recovery  of  the  past 
six  months  and  to  occupy  the  “  promised  land  ”  with  a  considerable 
library  and  an  effective  organization  for  its  conduct. 

LIBRARY  SCHOOL 

The  State  Library  School  lost  all  administrative  records  and  corre¬ 
spondence  covering  the  quarter  century  of  its  existence.  Of  its 


THE  STATE  LIBRARY 


301 


bibliographic  and  practice  collections  of  nearly  10,000  volumes,  its 
unrivaled  collection  of  pictures  and  plans  of  library  buildings,  fittings 
and  appliances,  not  a  vestige  remains.  But  recovery  was  quick  and 
the  serious  effects  of  the  shock  only  temporary.  Very  fortunately 
most  of  the  technical  courses  requiring  extensive  use  of  books  were 
either  completed  or  nearing  completion,  so  that  it  was  possible  to 
finish  the  year  profitably  with  a  much  smaller  collection  of  books 
than  would  have  been  required  at  any  earlier  date.  It  was,  more¬ 
over,  early  enough  in  the  year  to  permit  the  collection  of  equip¬ 
ment  necessary  for  the  school  year  of  1911-12. 

The  regular  schedule  was  continued  almost  without  interruption 
until  the  end  of  the  year,  only  the  day  immediately  following  the  fire 
being  taken  as  an  enforced  holiday.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the 
libraries  visited,  the  annual  library  trip  (to  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Washington  and  their  vicinities)  was  put  two  weeks  earlier  than  the 
dates  first  agreed  upon.  This  permitted  the  temporary  quarters  in 
the  science  wing  of  the  State  Normal  College  to  be  put  in  readiness 
by  the  time  the  school  returned  from  its  trip  and  allowed  time  to 
collect  the  absolute  essentials  for  the  rest  of  the  school  year. 
Through  the  courtesy  of  Dr  Herbert  Putnam  the  senior  class  was 
enabled  to  finish  the  courses  in  subject  bibliography  and  history  of 
libraries  in  the  Library  of  Congress. 

The  courage  and  zeal  of  the  faculty  and  the  admirable  spirit  dis¬ 
played  by  the  students  prevented  even  a  temporary  panic.  Through 
the  cooperation  of  ihe  Normal  College  authorities  practice  work  in 
several  technical  lines  was  provided  in  the  Normal  College  library. 

General  and  genuine  interest  in  the  school  and  its  work  was  shown 
by  the  prompt  offers  of  assistance  received  from  libraries  throughout 
the  State,  among  them  the  public  libraries  of  Buffalo,  Gloversville, 
Utica  and  Brooklyn,  and  Columbia  University,  and  every  public 
library  in  Albany.  Several  of  the  libraries  mentioned  above  offered 
temporary  quarters  for  the  school  in  addition  to  general  assistance. 
Some  fifteen  prominent  libraries  have  also  agreed  to  give  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  practice  work  in  the  spring  of  1912  to  the  students 
entering  in  October  1911,  and  several  of  the  largest  libraries  of  the 
country  have  agreed  to  lend  for  limited  periods  necessary  books 
formerly  in  the  State  Library  but  too  scarce  to  be  duplicated  on 
short  notice.  A  very  fair  working  collection  of  professional  litera¬ 
ture  has  already  been  assembled  through  the  generosity  of  former 
students  and  friends  of  the  school,  and  the  State  Library  is  able 
to  provide  all  books  needed  for  the  school  year  1911-12.  The 


302 


NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT 


classes  of  1898  and  1901  have  contributed  $126  to  be  used  for  addi¬ 
tional  equipment.  While  the  ingenuity  of  the  faculty  may  be  some¬ 
what  taxed  in  adjusting  themselves  to  changed  conditions,  there  is 
no  reason  apparent  why  the  development  of  the  school  should  be 
in  any  way  retarded  by  the  misfortunes  of  the  year. 

On  account  of  lack  of  room  the  summer  session  was  postponed 
until  1912. 

Forty-one  students  were  registered  in  the  regular  school  and  four 
members  of  the  New  York  State  Library  staff  also  took  partial  work. 
Twelve  students  received  the  degree  B.L.S.  and  twenty-six  certifi¬ 
cates  were  issued  to  students  completing  the  first  year’s  work. 

Nearly  a  hundred  r.ew  positions  (including  important  promotions) 
were  filled  during  the  year  by  former  students  of  the  school.  The 
importance  of  many  of  these  positions  and  the  fact  that  in  many 
cases  library  boards  are  seeking  for  school-trained  librarians  to  suc¬ 
ceed  librarians  trained  entirely  through  experience  are  testimonials 
not  merely  to  the  work  of  our  own  school  but  the  growing 
belief  in  the  efficacy  of  systematic  instruction  in  library  methods  in 
general. 


■Ifllpl 


